Français · French
Silent endings, nasal vowels, and the glue of liaison.
Romance (Gallo-Romance) · compare with Spanish, Italian
Sounds
36 phonemes, 92 spelling rules. Trace any word letter by letter.
Words
610 concepts carry a French form. Switch French on at the top and browse any field.
Grammar
12 of 12 chapters written.
🎚️ What French does with pitch, stress and rhythm — the layer that isn't spelled.
Sound snapshot
French spelling is historical but rule-governed: most of it can be reverse-engineered once you accept three big ideas. (1) Final consonants are usually silent — except c, r, f, l ('CaReFuL') — and a final e is mute but makes the consonant before it sound. (2) A vowel + n/m in the same syllable is a NASAL vowel (an/en → /ɑ̃/, on → /ɔ̃/, in/ain/ein → /ɛ̃/, un → /œ̃/); write a vowel or another n/m right after and it turns back into an ordinary vowel + consonant. (3) Vowel digraphs are fixed: ou /u/, oi /wa/, au/eau /o/, ai/ei /ɛ/, eu /ø~œ/, u /y/. Stress is always on the last pronounced syllable. Liaison (sounding a silent final before a vowel) is not modelled by the tracer.
Grammar chapters
Articles
the, a — definite and indefinite, and how they bend to gender and number.
Nouns & gender
Does the language sort nouns into classes, and can you guess which?
Plurals
How to make more than one.
Pronouns
I, you, he/she/it, we, they — subject, object, and the formal 'you'.
Present tense
Regular verbs now, and the handful of irregular ones you can't avoid.
Negation
Saying no: where the 'not' goes.
Questions
Yes/no questions and question words.
Word order
Where the verb goes, where adjectives go, what moves and why.
Past tenses
Finished vs ongoing, spoken vs written past.
Future & conditional
Will, going to, would.
Adjectives
Agreement, position, comparison.
Prepositions
In, on, at, to — the small words that never translate one-to-one.
Words by field
🏠Home
The house, room by room — the words you touch every day.
🌲Nature
Out of the city: landscapes, weather, creatures.
🧩Little words
Adverbs, prepositions, connectors — small words that carry the sentence.
🧱Essentials
The bedrock: numbers, yes and no — the words you need on day one.
🧰Trades & expertise
Jargon of people who do things with their hands — and their heads.
💭Concepts
Abstract words: feelings, ideas, character.
🧭Navigation
Finding your way: streets, junctions, the places you're heading for — and how to say you're lost.
🧑People
Who someone is: what they do, and what you call them.
🎬Actions
Everyday verbs, in the form that follows 'I want to…' — go, eat, buy, see, say.
🍽️Food
What's on the plate and in the cupboard — the staples first.
🫀The body
Head to ankle — the words you need at the doctor, the physio and the gym.
🥋Sport & fighting
The gym, the cage and the corner — built for fighters learning English.
🎭Register
The same idea said in the street, at the office, or in a textbook.